Little leads Everblades past Gladiators
DULUTH, Ga. Mike Little scored a goal and added two assists to lead the Florida Everblades to a 3-1 victory over the Gwinnett Gladiators Tuesday night at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.
The Everblades (21-4-0-3, 43 pts) maintain the top spot in the East Division and improve to 2-1 on the current six-game road trip.
After a scoreless first period, it took nearly 13 minutes into the second period before the game’s first goal was scored. The Everblades attempted to clear the zone, but the puck hit the stick of Gwinnett forward J.P. Labardo and then deflected across the slot to Travis Ouellette who immediately wristed the puck past Florida goaltender Andy Iles for the goal.
The Everblades evened the score at 18:30 of the middle frame on the power play. From the top of the crease, John McInnis tipped and redirected a Jeff Costello shot into the net past Gwinnett netminder Andrew Loewen.
The ‘Blades seized the lead just 55 seconds later when Mike Little finished off a nice transition into the zone with a wrist shot that clipped past Loewen to put the score at 2-1 after 40 minutes of play.
Florida added an insurance marker at 4:13 of the third. Little broke into the zone and ripped a shot that was stopped by Loewen. However, the rebound bounced to the left wing circle and Jason Wilson hurled the puck into the open net to extend the lead to 3-1.
Iles and company took care of the rest, to shutdown the Gladiators down the stretch and secure the 3-1 victory.
Iles was sharp in goal stopping 27 of 28 shots, while Loewen drops an impressive outing in his season debut allowing three goals on 31 shots faced.
The Everblades continue their road trip on Wednes-day in Charleston for a New Year’s Eve affair with the South Carolina Stingrays. Game time is set for 6:05 p.m.
Fans can listen to the game online at theislandfm.net/
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At Orlando, the Blades split two post-Christmas games with the Solar Bears, losing their seven-game winning streak in a 3-2 loss Saturday before getting back on track Sunday with a 6-5 win behind Brant Harris’ hat trick performance.
Tied 1-1, Harris tipped and redirected Artem Sergeev’s shot from the point to take a temporary lead. Tied again in the second at 3-3, Harris got his second goal on a wrister from the circle. Deadlocked at 5-5 in the third period, Harris’ third scored proved to be the game-winner at the 11:04 mark.
York stopped 31 of 36 shots for the win.
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Orlando goaltender Kent Patterson made 34 saves in the Bears’ win Saturday night to snap the Blades’ win streak.
Tied 1-1, Orlando reclaimed a 2-1 lead at 14:40 of the second period on a one-timed drive by Patrick Watling.
The Bears assumed a two-goal edge just 52 seconds later on a rebound goal off a shot by Greg Miller.
The Blades continued to pepper the net with shots, but Patterson came up with all of the stops down the stretch to preserve Orlando’s win.